BUSINESS BRIEFS

NEW YORK - January proved to be a better-than-expected month for the nation's retailers, who saw big sales gains as Americans bought up deeply discounted merchandise.

The strong sales reported Thursday pleased merchants who had anticipated that consumers would scale back their spending in 1999 amid expectations that global financial turmoil would slow down U.S. economic growth.

"The economy is more robust than most people expected it would be," said Steve Paspal, senior retail analyst at Sovereign Asset Management, a subsidiary of John Hancock Funds. "How can that not help retail sales?"

Reports show economy on roll so far in 1999

WASHINGTON - The strongest surge in factory orders in more than a year and an unexpected dip in applications for unemployment benefits show the economy is starting 1999 with a bang.

Orders to U.S. factories jumped 2.3 percent in December, the biggest increase in 13 months, the Commerce Department said Thursday. Meanwhile, the number of Americans filing first-time applications for unemployment benefits fell by 9,000 to a six-week low of 292,000 last week, the Labor Department said.

FedEx pilots approve first contract

MEMPHIS, Tenn. - Pilots at Federal Express Corp. overwhelmingly approved their first contract with the world's largest cargo airline on Thursday, 212 months after backing down from a strike threat.

The pilots' union said 86 percent of its voting members approved the deal, which provides a 17 percent raise over five years.

The FedEx Pilots Association, the only union among FedEx's U.S. employees, has represented the company's 3,600 fight crew members since 1996. Pilots have been trying to negotiate a contract since 1993.

Federal Reserve decides to be more revealing

WASHINGTON - In a small step toward greater openness, Federal Reserve policy-makers have decided that they may sometimes immediately announce when their thinking changes about the likely direction of interest rates.

They also agreed to use plainer language in the section of the publicly released minutes of their meetings that reveals their stance toward interest rates.

"It's essentially Toto pulling back the curtain to reveal a little bit more of what the wizard's all about," said banking analyst Bert Ely of Alexandria, Va.

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